The Biscay Regional Government’s commitment to promoting Biscay Bay Startup Campus as the largest entrepreneurial event in the north of the peninsula, a tax system focused on startups, the International Centre for Entrepreneurship (the Biscay Tower) and links with institutions in Boston, Helsinki and Tel Aviv are the pillars of Biscay’s strategy to rescue the territory from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Its objective: to become the Iberian Startup Nation, according to a statement.
As Confebask states, the Basque Country has suffered an “unprecedented deterioration” due to the great drop in activity in all sectors, the disappearance of companies, the collapse of employment and ERTEs for almost half of the companies, as well as the deep fall in industry and its exports.
Despite the bad scenario, Bizkaia is adopting the model of Tel Aviv, a world power of entrepreneurship, based on technological innovation, investment in young talent and the boost in the well-known Industry 4.0 through the BBSC event, the tax reform and the Bizkaia Tower that will house the key players of the ecosystem.
Bilbao and Tel Aviv share more similarities than it seems, says the BBSC promoters: a small and young population (only 100,000 inhabitants different), a marked cultural and political identity and an industrial history characterized by the port activity.
Biscay, with initiatives such as BBSC, seeks to create the largest community of young entrepreneurs at a European level and, in order to attract and retain this talent, is promoting for the third consecutive year Biscay Bay Startup Campus -BBSC-, the largest early stage startup event which brings together hundreds of thousands of young people every year, this being the only one at a state level aimed at this entrepreneurial profile of young people.
BBSC is the first bullet in the cartridge of the Provincial Council of Biscay, which will be held on 24 and 25 September, while the new tax and the International Centre for Entrepreneurship will not see the light until 2021 and 2022 respectively.
“This is the litmus test of Bizkaia’s economic revival, as it is the first action of this mega-strategy that brings together the ecosystem after confinement. The result of this will determine the success or failure of Bilbao’s Tel Aviv,” say its promoters.
BBSC will have on its stage the interventions of the leaders of Cabify, Zeleros Hyperloop, Blablacar, Ashoka, among others, who will inspire and connect with the future generation of innovators. The initiative has been supported by companies such as Iberdrola, BBK, Bilbao Port or Vueling and institutions such as the University of the Basque Country.